Punta Arenas and Antarctica - 2023

Trip Summary

We've just returned from our final expedition to Antarctica. This trip was arranged through Quark Expeditions. The itinerary included a charter flight from Punta Arenas to the Teniente Marsh Airfield on King George Island, within the Shetland Islands. The flight meant that we would avoid a transit over Drake Passage.

We understood when this trip was booked that weather influences the charter flights. Poor visibility, high winds and ice/snow on the short gravel runway on King George Island can delay or, ultimately, eliminate all flights. As it turned out, the group's two planes couldn't depart Punta Arenas for two whole days - thus, shortening the number of days we would actually be in Antarctica from seven to five.

Despite the loss of two expedition days, we were still able to experience nine outings, including one after-dinner zodiac cruise. We had never had a post-dinner zodiac cruise on our other polar trips. Despite the loss of two days, the Ocean Adventurer was able to travel into the Antarctic Circle.

Our January 2015 Antarctica trip was earlier in the Antarctica summer season. During late February to early March 2023, there was less snow on the ground and fewer penguins due to the breeding season being largely over. However, we did see orcas, leopard seals, crab eater seals, fur seals, elephant seals, minke and humpback whales, shags and other birds. We also noticed more restrictions during 2023 landings - guests could no longer simply sit on a rock or snow and watch penguin rookeries due to avian flu concerns.

This was our fifth polar expedition. If we consider a sixth, it could be to West Greenland which we understand could provide more of a cultural experience.

There were six COVID positive cases reported during our ship time. There were several spare cabins to isolate these guests. My spouse was one of these guests and she missed several days of activities. The expedition staff and physician were very helpful. When the zodiacs had departed from the Ocean Adventurer with guests for excursions or landings, the COVID guests were permitted brief periods on the outdoor decks to get fresh air. Quark also provided free Internet access to these guests.  As a spouse of a COVID positive guest, I was required to take a daily COVID test. With a negative result, I could participate in all activities but was required to wear a face covering when indoors during somewhat crowded lounge presentations. I was also required to dine alone in my cabin rather than the restaurant with other guests as it was unknown whether I would test positive at some point. Interestingly, of the six people in my travel group, only my spouse became COVID positive - even though we had dined together for several breakfasts, lunches and dinners. I remained COVID negative when we returned to the US.

We were able to depart King George Island on the scheduled date and time. The COVID guests were seated in the rear of the charter jet and all passengers wore face coverings during the two-hour flight. Once we landed in Punta Arenas, my spouse and I isolated via two different hotels, The Dreams and Cabo de Hornas. The Dreams Hotel, which had our original reservation, was sold out and didn't have a second hotel room available.

We are working with our travel insurer for reimbursement related to the lost expedition days and additional hotel stay.

After seven days, my wife was fully recovered and no longer tested COVID positive. While COVID represents a much less dire situation now, it is still active. We've traveled internationally three times over the past 14 months and COVID has struck one or both of us on two of the three trips (Egypt and Antarctica).

   

 

First 2021 Trip Cancelled - January 2021

Yet one more trip cancellation - this time for 2021

In early 2020, before everyone fully understood the consequences of the pandemic, we reserved our cabin on a 2021 polar expedition. This trip was to the Russian High Arctic polar region of Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlya. With current travel restrictions in Finland, Russia and United Kingdom, more virulent COVID-19 strains and limited availability of COVID-19 vaccinations, we decided to cancel this trip before the final lump payment was due. This 2021 trip would have required flights between the US and UK, UK and Helsinki, Finland and also between Helsinki and Murmansk, Russia.

In case you might be wondering about these two destinations:

Franz Josef Land: A little over 500 miles from the North Pole, this area is the northernmost archipelago in the world. There are 192 uninhabited islands in Franz Josef Land, many of which are ice-covered year round. Instead of people, visitors view polar bears, whales, walruses kittiwakes, auks and other seabirds.

Novaya Zemlya: There are two major islands in this area, of which 25 percent of the land is ice-covered. The islands are between the Kara Sea and Barents Sea. Wildlife viewing includes polar bears, Arctic foxes and walruses. 

What to do with our 2021 expedition deposit?

We decided to take for one more expedition to Antarctica. We first explored Antarctica in 2015 and, in 2017, South Georgia and Falklands. Given our 2022 travel schedule has already been booked (and remains on schedule), we needed to look to 2023. In early 2023, we'll return to Antarctica for a small ship expedition into the Antarctic Circle. Hopefully, COVID-19 infections and related travel restrictions will no longer present such uncertainty or travel challenges by 2023. The world population should be more healthy by late 2022 and both world and national recovery well on its way.

This trip will be similar to our previous Antarctica journey. We board a charter flight in Punta Arenas, Chile, to King George Island, one of the South Shetland Islands of Antarctica. From there, we'll board an expedition ship to the Antarctic peninsula. After nine days, we'll return to King George Island and board our charter flight to the mainland.

2023 is a long time from today but offers something to look forward to. We have some friends that are thinking about joining us on this trip and that will make this expedition even more enjoyable.

If you're interested in learning about this trip, check out my Antarctica biog entries from 2015.    

Vikingebugt, Krogan and Ittoqqortoormiit, East Greenland, Part 4 - 2019

Vikingebugt, September 22, 2019

This morning, we woke up to gray skies and views of "Viking Bay." This bay was named by Laurits Bruhn during an expedition in 1931-34. The bay provides a terrific view of Bredegletscher. This glacier flows from Geikie Plateau to sea level. 

As we were getting ready for breakfast, a polar bear was seen in the water. Shortly afterwards, a female polar bear and two cubs were sited on a high cliff. 

© Kyle Marquardt

Evidence of a Polar Bear Meal.
Polar bears prefer seal blubber and often leave the rest for scavengers.

After breakfast, we loaded onto the zodiacs to cruise in the bay. We could hear the glacier and icebergs making popping and cracking sounds as our zodiac traveled in ice-filled water. While viewing the glacier, we were able to see a large iceberg calving. This view was unusual as the ice break from Bredegletscher broke off vertically before falling into the sea. The zodiacs were quickly moved away from the glacier to avoid the sea swells generated by the falling ice.

Krogan, September 22, 2019

This was our final afternoon hike of our East Greenland expedition. We trekked amidst the light snow covered tundra and cloudy skies. The mountain views often looked like a black and white photo. We hiked to a high hill (not to the mountain tops in the below photos) to view the narrow Gasefjord. 

There were several interesting rock formations as we reached higher elevations. Large rocks seemed perilously balanced on smaller rocks. These formations are referred to as "balancing rocks" or a "precarious boulder." These rock fragments can be the result of glacier action. 

For the 2020 expedition season, Quark will no longer be using the small 70 guest capacity Ocean Nova. The new larger ships carry more passengers (generally 200) and, perhaps coincidentally, Quark will not host an expedition just focused on East Greenland itinerary for next year.  Some of the East Greenland fjords are narrow and shallow which may prevent entry of larger ships. 

Ittoqqortoormiit, September 23, 2019

Prior to embarking on our expedition, we practiced verbalizing the name of this village of 400 Inuit inhabitants. The village was founded in 1925 by Ejnar Mikkelsen and 85 Inuit settlers from Tasiilaq and four families from west Greenland. Denmark encouraged the establishment of this settlement to offer Tasiilaq settlers an opportunity for better living conditions. The village also firmly established Denmark government over East Greenland.

There were many sled dogs in the settlement. We were told that the snowmobiles can be less dependable during winter hunting compared to the simpler dog sleds - especially when traveling to  areas distant from home.

Ittoqqorttoomilt is very remote, with supplies being delivered twice a year. During the winter, the sea ice becomes a barrier for ship access. For major medical emergencies, an evacuation to Iceland or Denmark is made via helicopter to west Greenland. Airplane service in Greenland, particularly in the winter, is often intermittent due to weather conditions.

Historically, the building color represented a function.
Yellow: Hospital, Green: Telecomm, Blue: Factory, Red: Trade or Related Housing

© James Anderson

There is a DMI (Danish Meteorological Institute) weather station in the village that measures, via balloon,  a vertical profile of temperature, air pressure, humidity and winds every 12 hours. At 11am, a weather balloon is released by the station manager. Data from this weather station is coordinated with readings from other weather stations on a continuous schedule. 

Returning to the Ocean Nova after our morning settlement visit, we started to prepare for our disembarkation the next morning. We packed our polar clothes in the afternoon, keeping out just our water-proof pants, parka and Quark-supplied muck boots. Quark will transport our luggage from the ship to an airport hanger.

When we leave the Ocean Nova, we travel from the ship by zodiac to the shore next to the Constable Point (Nerlerit Inaat) runway. From this point, we walk about a half mile through light mud to an airport hanger. There, we check in for our flight to Reykjavik, collect our luggage, return our muck boots and change to our personal shoes.

It seems we look forward to these polar expeditions for a long time and the trip is over very quickly.

Øfjord, Langenaes and Rødeø, East Greenland, Part 3 - 2019

Øfjord, September 20, 2019
Øfjord was named in 1891 by Carl Ryder during his 1891-92 East Greenland Expedition. The Greenlandic name for this area is Ikaasakajik, or The Bad Sound. This latter name comes from the high katabatic winds that blow through this area. Such gravity-fed dense winds blow from high elevation mountains down a slope and can range from 10mph to well over 100 mph.

Langenaes, September 21, 2019
With sunny weather, we made a morning zodiac landing in Langenaes, Langenaes is a narrow pennisula that separates North Fjord from Tidemann and Devolds Fjords. After disembarking our zodiac, we started a moderately uphill hike to view a large glacier field. As we were quietly viewing the glacier, a sharp cracking sound marked a calving event. The sound actually is heard after the calving has occurred. The delay is due to the distance that sound travels.

This photo shows the rough upper portion of the glacier.

Many of our hikes required that we walk over willow trees.
In the harsh Arctic environment, willow trees
grow only to about six inches tall

After our morning hike, we reboarded the Ocean Nova and moved to Rødeø (Red Island). The ship path to this new area provided rich opportunities for viewing and photos.

Rødeø, September 21, 2019

In the afternoon, we boarded the zodiacs for a cruise around this red-tinted island. The red color comes from the iron mineral hematite. The island, with stripes of dolerite, has steep cliffs that likely precluded a landing. We zodiac cruised so close to the island, I noticed afterwards that we didn't have any photos showing the entire island. Nonetheless, the zodiac cruise allowed us to view many icebergs against a clear sky.

At the end of the zodiac cruise, we stopped to visit a pop-up bar on a nearby shore and pose for an expedition photo.  Returning to the Ocean Nova, the ship hosted a BBQ for everyone. Despite the sun and light winds, it was still pretty cold and required that we bundle up in our expedition parkas.

With clear skies, the Northern Lights once again made their appearance, this time around 11:45pm.  This was a much better time compared to the previous evening's shipwide alert at 2am. After gathering cameras and tripod, we made our way to the upper deck. Based on the recommendation of the expedition photographer, earlier in the evening I mounted my camera on its tripod and pre-configured my settings for long exposures. This reduced any setup time once we found our spot for take evening photos.

Nordvestfjord, East Greenland, Part 2 - 2019

Traveling overnight, the Ocean Nova transited Scoresbysund through fields of white and blue-tinted icebergs into Nordvestfjord. Nordvestfjord is about 200 miles from where Scoresbysund meets the open sea.

The number of icebergs increased the deeper we sailed into this area and there was a thin layer of late fall sea ice starting to form on the top of the water.  The hull of the Ocean Nova made crunching sounds as we moved through this thin ice. As winter descends onto East Greenland, there would only be one more Ocean Nova expedition into Scoresbysund before ice choked fjords prevented safe passage for the season.

Rubber inflatable zodiac boats are used for either scenic cruising or landings. The latter, as long as winds and sea swells are not extreme and an absence of nearby polar bears, allow hiking and exploration opportunities for expedition guests. Depending on the landing area, there can be cultural and historical sites to view.

Flyverfjord
Our first zodiac activity of the expedition was a cruise through the iceberg-filled Flyverfjord. This fjord branches from Nordvestfjord. Alwin Pedersen, a Danish zoologist, first explored this area in 1929.

Ingmikorilaq
After lunch, we boarded the zodiacs once again but for a hike at Ingmikortilaq. Hikers selected the walking group in which they felt most comfortable - casual, moderate or fast-paced. Throughout our expedition, we stayed in the moderate walking group as it allowed some additional time to enjoy scenic views and to take photographs. The hikes generally lasted 2.5 to 3 hours.

From our landing area at Ingmikortilaq, we walked uphill for an initial view of the Daugaard-Jensen Glacier. Located northwest of Hinksland and south of Charcot Land, the glacier was first mapped in 1933 by Lauge Koch.

We continued our cross-country hike to a steeper rocky viewpoint before heading down. This hike took a little longer than planned and we were the last group to reboard the Ocean Nova before dinner. On the way down the mountain, I tripped on a rock and took a rolling fall, landing on my shoulder. Luckily, no damage was done and my fall was under the watch of the nearby expedition physician. It would have been unfortunate to have an injury in a remote area - especially on the first day of the expedition!  

Eskimobugt
Just on the north side of Nordvestfjord is a site with historical ruins. The settlement is likely several hundred years old. As we hiked in this area, we could see what was left of rock walls of a house. The subterranean winter houses had a sea-facing tunnels which occupants used to enter the living area. This tunnel direction permitted a view of sea-oriented hunting prospects. The other side of the house was used for sleeping. The walls and ceiling were possibly whale bones, with animal skins used to provide a roof covering.

Our guides laid out several artifacts from the settlement found by previous expeditions. These artifacts included knives, arrowheads and sewing needles.

Frederiskdal
This zodiac landing site provided another opportunity to stretch our legs. A somewhat gentle 2.5 hour hike over tundra, small streams and rocks led us to an area that provided excellent viewing of musk ox and an older glacier.

Immikkeertikajik (Ruin Island)
This small island is east of Sydkap, at the mouth of Nordvestfjord. Our zodiacs landed on the rocky northern beach and we proceeded on a 2.5 hour hike over the island to a southern beach. From a high vantage point we took 20 minutes to enjoy the terrific views of large icebergs and sea. At the southern beach, we were able to evidence of a settlement of early inhabitants, likely from 1000-1100 AD. Boarding the zodiacs for a return to the Ocean Nova was quick as the sea swell at the southern beach was growing.